As we saw last week, Ezra proclaimed to Artaxerxes the truth that “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” Both Ezra and Nehemiah bragged on God’s hand for good and His strong and good hand upon them. Ezra uses this term 5 times (7:6, 7:9, 7:28, 8:18, and 8;22) and Nehemiah uses it 3 times (1:10, 2:8, and 2:18). Nehemiah also referred 3 times to how those that were not seeking the Lord were given into the hand of the enemies or the hand of the peoples of the lands (9:27, 9:28, and 9:30).
One of the benefits of truly seeking the Lord is that the fear of man and of our own judgment is overcome. The most repeated command in the Bible to His people appears to be “FEAR NOT”. I John 4:18-19 addresses the relationship between our love for the Lord and fear: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.”
As Nehemiah was seeking the Lord and trusting fully in Him, he did not fear those around him that wanted to foil his work for the Lord and destroy him. It is quite an exciting story of how he did not give in to the fearmongering of Sanballat and Tobiah (2:19-20; 4:1-21; 6:1-14). He realized that they were trying to make him afraid (6:9, 13-14). Not only did he not give in to the fearmongering, but he encouraged the people to do likewise and remember the Lord (4:14): “And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, ‘Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.‘ ” May we do likewise!